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Yvonne Johnson, Carbon County Economic Development Corporation Director, was present at the October 8 Riverside Town Council meeting to introduce herself to the council and touch on topics on which she is currently working. Johnson said that her main goal is to bridge the Valley and Rawlins and to let the council know that if there is any need for funding, be it $10 or $10,000, she is there to help. Johnson has been busy, she said that she has already gone through two rolls of stamps in the...
A process that began little more than two years ago finally come to fruition on a warm October day in Saratoga. On Saturday morning, the groundbreaking for the much anticipated North Platte Valley Medical Center was held at its future location at the intersection of West Bridge Avenue and N. 13th Street. The path to the groundbreaking was not an easy one for the Platte Valley Healthcare Project (PVHP), the Corbett Medical Foundation or Health Management Services (HMS). The PVHP, previously...
A few weeks ago the 1st grade class from Saratoga Elementary School was getting a tour of downtown Saratoga from Sherry McCay, a volunteer with the Saratoga Museum. As they made their way down Bridge Avenue, they stopped in front of the Saratoga Sun where Sherry began telling them about the newspaper. Even though it was a Monday, deadline day for our small weekly paper, I opened the door and asked if the students would like a tour of the newspaper office. Fortunately, their teachers appeared to...
All candidates for Saratoga Town Council and House District 47 have indicated they will attend the upcoming candidates’ forum sponsored by the Valley Service Organization (VSO), according to Kassey Westring, forum moderator for the organization. The forum is scheduled for Monday, October 12, at 7 p.m. at the Platte Valley Community Center Great Hall. As in past forums, VSO will open the event with a few brief remarks, then the candidates will be asked to tell the audience why they are running, she said. Questions provided to VSO earlier and f...
Members of the Saratoga Town Council gathered in the Steve Wilcoxson Town Council Chambers on September 18 to discuss job descriptions for town employees and were joined by legal counsel Cathy MacPherson. While there was discussion surrounding descriptions for a few specific jobs within the Town of Saratoga, such as the recreation director and the planning and zoning officer, most of it centered around taking a top down approach. Additionally, three members of the governing body agreed to talk...
Summer 2020 is officially over and Carbon County, like the state of Wyoming, had to make adjustments as the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) was still impacting life for many residents. It was hoped back in April, and then May, that the virus would be under control with warm weather. That didn't happen. Cases started spiking in the West and South. The summer of COVID-19 started in June and people anxious to get out of lockdowns started to travel but not by public transportation such as planes,...
Previous suggestions by Councilmember Jon Nelson to wait on an appointment to the vacancy for Saratoga mayor until after the general election appear to have been taken quite literally by Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel. During the September 15 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Keel had proposed rescheduling the first November meeting of the governing body from November 3 to November 4. “Looking ahead, the general election is the 3rd of November which is the night of our town council meeting. I would...
Eight years ago, the Town of Saratoga passed Ordinance 809, which created regulations for specially permitted events within the town limits. At the September 15 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Councilmember Jon Nelson proposed changes to Chapter 5.30 of the Saratoga Municipal Code. Since taking his seat on the council in January 2019, Nelson has been consistent in his ‘nay’ votes on special events applications that have not followed the current town code, specifically the 30 day dea...
The Carbon County Visitors Council (CCVC) met at 10 a.m. on September 16 at Firewater Public House in Saratoga. The agenda and minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting on August 19 were approved. A presentation was made by Leanna Jones, CEO of the Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce, for a visual guide on the businesses and special services in the Valley area. “It will have table of contents that help you key on what you are looking for,” Jones said. “I am hoping for help with the p...
As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) rolls out updated flood insurance maps for Carbon County, the Saratoga Town Council is asking residents to closely examine the changes that have been made and how it will affect them. During the September 15 meeting of the governing body, Councilmember Jon Nelson gave a brief synopsis of the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Open House that had been held by FEMA concurrently on Zoom and at the Platte Valley Community Center the night before. “I t...
The Carbon County Council of Governments (CCCOG) met at 6:30 p.m. on September 16 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall. Baggs, Dixon, Elk Mountain, Hanna, Medicine Bow, Rawlins and Saratoga had representatives. Chairman Morgan Irene, Vice Chairman Jon Nelson and Travis Moore, Secretary/Treasurer, were present. After all attendees made introductions, the council approved the minutes from the July 15 regular meeting. The treasurer’s report was approved after a quick review. Kara Choquette, Director...
With seven board positions and four board members, the Saratoga Planning Commission only had two members in attendance for their September 8 meeting at Saratoga Town Hall; Chairman Jim Beckmann and Council Representative D’Ron Campbell. Commission members Tom Westring and Mike Lamprecht were not in attendance and Deb Clark had officially resigned from the commission in August. This also marked the first meeting since the resignation of Kent Smith, who had been serving as the interim zoning o...
The Hanna Town Council met at 6:30 p.m. on September 8 p.m. at the Hanna Town Hall. The mayor, Lois Buchanan and council members Tracy Fowler, Bob Patton and Sam Sikes were present. Council member Linda Schisel was absent. The town clerk, Ann Calvert, told the council that the financials were not ready with the exception of payroll and the financial report had to be amended to reflect that. After the approval of the agenda, the minutes from the July 14 regular meeting, August 3 special meeting,...
The Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) is formally requesting an audit of the district’s funds as managed by the Town of Saratoga. The board formally approved a letter to be sent to Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel and the Saratoga Town Council during their September 2 meeting in Riverside. The request from the disposal district comes following a months long wait as third-party accountant James Childress examined the Town of Saratoga’s financial history and new auditors Carver Flo...
Two weeks after the resignation of Mayor John Zeiger, the Saratoga Town Council is no closer to filling the now vacant position. During the September 1 meeting of the governing body, Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel read a letter from legal counsel Tom Thompson regarding the vacant position. Discussion among the council appeared to show the town council agreeing to wait on filling the position until after the general election. In his letter to the council, Thompson wrote that he had reached out to the...
At their September 1 meeting, the Saratoga Town Council began the process of moving excess revenues from Fiscal Year 2019/2020 into corresponding reserve funds. While the council appeared to agree that such an action needed to take place, the governing body disagreed on the how and the timeline. A four month period, proposed by Mayor Pro-Tem Keel at the guidance of third-party accountant James Childress, drew criticism from council members Jon Nelson and D’Ron Campbell. The enterprise funds a...
As the dust has settled from the 2020 Primary Election on August 18, the roster has been set for the general election on November 3. On the national stage, Wyomingites will have four women from the two major parties to choose from in both the House and the Senate to represent them come January. Meanwhile, incumbent Representative Jerry Paxton still faces a challenger. President of the United States President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Michael R. Pence will be running for another four...
Following two special meetings, one on Tuesday and one on Friday, between two counties and several municipalities, it appears that the entities have settled on a request to be presented to the Industrial Siting Council (ISC) for the Gateway South Wind Project totaling $6,097,769. The lion’s share of the request is easily Carbon County which put in a combined request of $4.5 million and accounts for approximately 74 percent of the total request. Of that, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners a...
The last time a mayor resigned in Saratoga was on August 5, 1996 when Mayor Brad Cary read a brief statement and then exited the council chambers leaving both his council and town hall staff stunned. A little more than 24 years later, Mayor John Zeiger announced his resignation as well. A distinct difference, however, is that Zeiger did not attend the August 18 meeting nor did he read a statement. The announcement, instead, was posted on social media and read at the meeting by Councilmember Bob...
With the primary election over, some candidates can breathe a sigh of relief as they have successfully fended off challengers in both House District 47 and on the Board of Carbon County Commissioners. Compared to the 2018 Primary Election, voter turnout saw a three percent increase. In the last primary election cycle, Carbon County had a 56 percent turnout while, this election cycle, that number had increased to 59 percent. In that time, however, the number of registered voters decreased from...
At the August 18 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, the governing body took action on several items discussed at the workshop held on August 13 including declaring a number of enterprise funds restricted. As was reported previously (see “Finding a path forward” on page 1 of the August 19 Saratoga Sun), the town council had scheduled a workshop to discuss the findings from the audit of Fiscal Year 2018/2019 issued by Carver Florek and James. In what was one of the most agreeable workshops sin...
As discussion among the Saratoga Town Council became heated on how to fill the now vacant mayor seat during the August 18 meeting, a statement from legal counsel Tom Thompson appeared to show there’s a first time for everything. “Frankly, I’ve not seen a situation where the council couldn’t agree to filling a vacancy.” By the time the council adjourned the nearly three hour meeting, the seat once held by Mayor John Zeiger remained vacant. The Vacancy In Zeiger’s absence, Mayor Pro-Tem Bob...
Dear Editor, Since elected to serve on the Saratoga Town Council, I have strived to encourage public discourse and to promote civic engagement. I believe our best council meetings are the ones when the room is full, when citizens are vocal, when ideas are exchanged, when tough questions are asked and when rigorous debate unfolds about issues that matter to the residents of Saratoga. For some time now, much of that conversation has been about the Town’s finances. Understandably, this has been an important topic to everyone who cares about the f...
After the August 24 workshop held at Saratoga Town Hall, the Town of Saratoga will submit an initial request of approximately $200,000 for expected impacts from the Gateway South Transmission Line. In an hour long workshop between the Saratoga Town Council, Saratoga-Carbon County Impact Joint Powers Board (SCCIJPB) and the Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) impact requests included a bulk water fill station, supplies for the SVFD and replacing or repairing the water system in the...
Less than two years after officially taking office for his fourth term, John Zeiger has resigned from his position as mayor of Saratoga “effective immediately”. In a post made on social media late Monday night, Zeiger cited familial reasons—the upcoming birth of his grandson—as his reason for resigning. The post announcing his resignation comes after multiple vague posts about an upcoming decision. At the August 4 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Zeiger had appointed Councilmember Bob Keel...